BEST IN THE EMPIRE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13430, 11 July 1914, Page 9

BEST IN THE EMPIRE.

POLICEMAN'S HAPPY LOT. (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. "The conditions under which the- New Zealand police are serving are better than those obtaining m any other police service m the Empire," declared Commissioner Cullen m his annual report. The cost, as the figures m the report show, is a steadily-increasing one, being now equal to 3s 9d per i»ead of the population, and it is likely to go up further, because the demands for more protection, especially m the North Island, justify Commissioner Cullen m asking for 50 additional constables during the current year. References to the troublous times of the waterside strike are confined to a catalogue of injured men, from which it appears that all hay« resumed duty except a mounted constable, who was hit on the head with * missile while preventing the Royal Tiger hotel, Wellington, from being -wrecked by <t mob. The mounted .and foot special constables who were called to the assistance of thepolice during the strike rendered a very great assistance m maintaining order, and during- the time they were m the cities 'performing their duties, their conduct under all circumstances was most exemplary. POLICE DWELLINGS : '■ For many years past the Government, has been, expending considerable sums of nionoy in. various localities m. providing workers' homes. The Commissioner Li of opinion that if a similar scheme applied to the department could be .parried out I very satisfactory results would .accrua. In providing workers; homes, . the land upon which .'the house? . are erected has to be purchased, but "this Tvcnild not be necessary m the case of the department-, as there are ample Government* sites lying idle m -many towns. The. total amount which the, department lias ; paid m house allowances to. members of in© torce during the past ten years v £64,5C0, the annual expenditure under this heading havin c increased from £3500 m 1904 to £10,280 last year f> LEGISLATION. * Two suggestions for legislation are made m the report. One -is that th« Police Offences Act, 1903, be so amendea as to compel the drivers of all vehicle* to keep ,good . lights burning, 'on their vehicles whenever, m iise.Oniriy road, s^ re<^> ? r V-'°*h'er public place,- between the hours of sunset and sunrise.. jMany seridi^ accidents, some of rwhicth 'have proved fatal, have occurred of 3afe. Probably these mishaps would not have taken place had the vehicles wihich caused the accidents been provided' frith suffi. cient lights. ; .Section 4of the licensing Act, 1908, .defines a ' 'public, bar 5 * m licensed .premises, but, stages? the Commissioner, it is very doubtfup 20 per cent, of the present licensed premises have a public bar as* defined by the. Act. In most cases -the- doors which oriarinally opened imntediately from the bar to the open -street v have been built up, with the result that nearly all bars now open . into a < pass?,^ m the "hotel premises, and have no' door opening immediately- on tdvfjt > street. <Th Q police do not object to the view of the bars being shut off )• from th« "*wt. Indeed, it. is better ; that thia should be so, but as certain offences mayy^ m a bar which 'cannot bY punished sol long as they are Committed, m one not opening on to a street)' it maybe well to amend tile definition of pub'he bar to mean "any place m any ftceng, ed premises m which liquor is ibid or kept for sale." Thia Vtybuld cover private as well as public bars. /* '■ - :: * GRIME AND DRUNKENNESS. ',' During the past ten years the. number of serious crimes has varied froni 520 t~ 759. the present total: (6l4| being slightly below the average. Altogether there were 26,415 offences reported, the most serious m which arrests-were made beinff: Arson, 20; assault, andfTefcbpry, 24; burglary, breaking into shops,- dwelI'^s, etc.. 283; forgery and buttering; 102; murder, 6 ; attempted murder, 8; rn,pe. 7 ; rpoehnnct- stplen property. 58 ; slitting with intent, 8; total, 516. . There has been a decrease 0f' 177 m the number of persons prosecuted for drunkenness during the year; ''.ia&~ compared with the previous year; 41.84 ncr cent., of the males and 68.7 per cent, 'flf -the females -*S(#^evi6^S' convictions recorded acainst them, and .8 pieik cent, of the males were not permanent-resi-dents of the Dominion. ' The i- mijrib«r ?hi\v»e'd with drunkenness in ''■} 1919 was 1 1 .884 (1^076 males and - 808? females) , whereas m 1913 th* number 7waa 11,707 (10,940 males and 767 females);' , k - . ; .